Departmental Property

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his policy is on rationalising his Department's property portfolio; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: holding answer 12 November 2007
	The Department has a business led estates strategy which will deliver a reduction of the Estate of approximately 20 per cent. by March 2011. In London a 50 per cent. reduction in office accommodation has already been achieved from a 2003 baseline.
	This rationalisation strategy supports the Renew DEFRA Business Reform Programme which is aimed at providing an efficient Department, including its Executive Agency delivery bodies, occupying a sustainable office portfolio and reducing the Departmental carbon footprint.
	Disposals already identified over the current CSR period will deliver the initial 20 per cent. target reduction and the Department is already looking to identify other opportunities to further reduce the operational property portfolio both in London, and nationally in line with Departmental business need.
	The principal strategy is to deliver a modern sustainable workplace which is cost effective and enables the Department, including its Executive Agency delivery bodies, to deliver its key business objectives.

Departmental Consultants

Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contracts his Department has with external consultants; what the total value, including all VAT and disbursements, of these contracts are for the current financial year; how long each contract lasts; and what the forecast total value is of each contract.

Meg Munn: The information requested by the hon. Member could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Annual expenditure on external consultants is published in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) Department's annual reports, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House. The two most recent annual reports also contain details of expenditure on the top five consultancy suppliers. The vast majority of work undertaken for the FCO by consultants is associated with its major Information Communication Technology and Estate construction programmes.
	I also refer the hon. Member to the reply my hon. Friend the Minister for Europe (Mr. Murphy), gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 9 October 2007,  Official Report, columns 542-43W, and the reply my right hon. Friend the then Minister for Europe (Mr. Hoon) gave to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 24 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1474W.

Departmental Expenditure

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs at which functions during the last year hospitality expenditure was incurred by his Department.

Meg Munn: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Europe (Mr. Murphy) on 18 October 2007,  Official Report, column 1314W.
	Further to that answer, Government Hospitality, Protocol Directorate, managed 199 official functions between November 2006 and October 2007. Of these functions, 58 were hosted by Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers or were funded directly by Government Hospitality on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

NHS Dentistry

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on access to NHS dentistry.

Ann Keen: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier

Maternity Services

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to recruit more midwives; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: This year NHS organisations have been required to review maternity services, including an assessment of their workforce capacity. We expect some to identify the need to recruit additional midwives and a range of mechanisms are in place to support local recruitment, for example to enable midwives who are not practising to return to work maternity services.

Breast Cancer

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government have taken to reduce deaths caused by breast cancer since 1997.

Ann Keen: We have taken a number of steps to reduce deaths from breast cancer specifically.
	Working in partnership, with Cancer Research UK, we produce the "Be Breast Aware" leaflet, advising women on the importance on being breast aware and knowing what signs or changes to look out for. Over a million copies of this leaflet are produced each year.
	In September 2000 we published the NHS Cancer Plan, which introduced a number of targets and initiatives aimed specifically at breast cancer. These were:
	the introduction of two-view mammography to improve detection rates,
	extension of the screening age range to include women aged up to 70,
	that there should be a maximum one month wait from diagnosis to treatment for breast cancer and a maximum two month wait from urgent general practitioner referral to treatment for breast cancer, and
	a review of the Department's improving outcomes in breast cancer guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
	As well as updating the breast cancer guidance in August 2002, NICE have produced clinical guidelines for familial breast cancer and have issued appraisals on nine drugs to treat breast cancer, more than for any other cancer type, and is currently appraising a further two drugs.
	We have also provided Section 64 funding to a number of breast cancer charities to improve awareness of breast cancer.
	We are currently developing the Cancer Reform Strategy, which will set out the future direction of cancer services in England. We aim to publish by the end of the year.
	In September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced proposals for cancer services including extending the breast cancer screening are range to women aged between 43 and 73 and a guaranteed appointment with a specialist within two weeks of referral for all patients with breast problems, not just those with suspected cancer.

Diabetes: Eastern Region

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with diabetes in  (a) the East of England and  (b) Suffolk in each of the last five years.

Ann Keen: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows data on the numbers of patients on diabetes registers in general practices available from the Quality and Outcomes Framework data but only for the financial years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.
	
		
			   2006-07  2005-06  2004-05 
			   Patients  Identified prevalence (percentage)  Patients  Identified prevalence (percentage)  Patients  Identified prevalence (percentage) 
			 East of England SHA 202,796 3.5 — — — — 
			 Suffolk PCT 20,590 3.4 — — — — 
			
			 East of England SHA — — 194,917 3.4 181,928 3.2 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire — — 80,190 3.5 75,633 3.3 
			 Essex — — 58,110 3.4 53,107 3.1 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire — — 56,617 3.2 53,188 3.1 
			
			 Suffolk PCT Total — — 19,755 3.3 18,491 3.2 
			 Central Suffolk — — 3,398 3.3 3,220 3.1 
			 Ipswich — — 5,023 3.3 4,714 3.1 
			 Suffolk Coastal — — 3,473 3.4 3,103 3.2 
			 Suffolk West — — 7,861 3.4 7,454 3.2 
			  Notes:  1. Due to changes in strategic health authority (SHA) and primary care trust (PCT) configurations, and the fact that East of England SHA and Suffolk PCT only came into existence in 2006, the figures quoted for 2005-06 and 2004-05 were originally for the old SHAs (Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, Essex and Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire) and PCTs (Central Suffolk, Ipswich, Suffolk Coastal and Suffolk West) that were in existence at the time have been summed to give figures for the new bodies.  2. Diabetes Prevalence The disease register in QOF for diabetes does not include any patient below the age of 17. However the denominator is all registered patients. This means that the reported prevalence is lower than the actual value.  3. Coverage of QOF—Patients will only contribute to the figures in QOF if they are registered with a general practice participating in QOF. Not all practices participate in QOF and some participate in only some parts (especially Primary Medical Service practices who are paid under different arrangements for providing services which are part of QOF for general medical service practices). Most indicators in QOF have rules which allow for patients to be excluded (e.g. patient refuses treatment) and so the denominator for a given indicator may be less than the number of patients on the register for that disease. Note also that some indicators have age limits and so exclude some patients on the register.   Source:  Information Centre.

Radiotherapy

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many linear accelerators operating in England are more than 10 years old; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: holding answer 12 November 2007
	As at July 2007 there were 22 machines installed in the national health service over 10 years old. Of these, 14 were awaiting delivery of replacements machines awarded under central programmes to purchase new and replacement equipment and facilities to provide better access to services. The remaining eight have been replaced via the central programmes but the trusts decided to retain their older machines in addition to meet local needs.
	We do not hold information on whether these older machines are in routine clinical use. Some of these machines may be used for clinical research, training purposes or used as back up when another machine requires maintenance.

Employment

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will rank local authorities by the employment rate in their area in  (a) 1997 and  (b) 2006.

Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 November 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about employment. (162676)
	The Office for National Statistics compiles employment statistics for local areas from the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
	Table 1, attached, shows the working age employment rates for all local authorities, for the period March 1997 to February 1998, from the annual LFS, and Table 2 shows the same information for the period April 2006 to March 2007 (the latest period for which data are available) from the APS. In both tables the local authorities are listed in order of their employment rates. A copy of the tables have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
	These statistics are published each quarter for all parliamentary constituencies and local authorities in the local area labour market statistical indicators publication (accessible from www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14160). The latest data are also published in the Labour Market Statistics regional First Releases (accessible from www.statistics.gov.uk/onlineproducts/lms_regional.asp).
	As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty. Estimates for the City of London in particular are based on very few observations. The employment rate is the number of working age people, in employment, who are resident in the area (not the number who work in the area), expressed as the percentage of all working age people resident in the area. Further, estimates of change over time for all areas should be treated with caution.

Personal Savings

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) net and  (b) gross rate of (i) household and (ii) national savings was in each year since 1997.

Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, how has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 13 November 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking what (a) the net and (b) the gross rate of (i) household and (ii) national savings was in each year since 1997.
	Relevant information is shown in the table attached. In the UK National Accounts, following international guidelines, the household sector is combined with the non-profit institutions serving households sector (NPISH), and it is not possible to separate the two. Examples of institutions included within the NPISH sector are: charities; trade unions; universities; churches and political parties.
	Net savings are calculated as gross saving less the consumption of fixed capital (depreciation).
	
		
			  Table 1: gross and net savings for the household and NPISH; and UK sectors 
			  £ million 
			   Household and NPISH gross savings (NSSH)  Household and NPISH consumption of fixed capital (QWLL)  Household and NPISH net saving (NSSI)  UK gross saving (NQET)  UK consumption of fixed capital (NQAE)  UK net saving (NQEJ) 
			 1997 54390 23704 30686 142061 95179 50126 
			 1998 41844 25053 16791 158257 98961 63206 
			 1999 33136 27976 5160 146294 105507 45239 
			 2000 33584 30518 3067 147613 111251 41241 
			 2001 45137 32908 12228 156483 115796 46049 
			 2002 36301 36043 258 167161 121914 51154 
			 2003 37421 36903 518 175725 125553 56486 
			 2004 29307 42509 -13059 187751 135184 59324 
			 2005 46745 43257 4122 186347 138354 55254 
			 2006 43913 48623 953 193751 147720 57449 
			  Source: UK National Accounts—The Blue Book 2007 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=1143